Oceanside homeowner fights City Hall in court on removal of speed bump

OCEANSIDE -- A judge has denied a local attorney's attempt to
stop the city from removing three rubber "speed cushions" that were
bolted to the asphalt in front of her home.

Speed cushions are broad two-inch-tall rubber bumps with sloped
sides. They are less steep than traditional asphalt speed bumps and
can be moved from location to location.

Julie Cardin, a Carlsbad attorney who lives at Valley Road and
Steiger Lane in Oceanside's "Henie Hills" neighborhood, said
Thursday that a judge denied her request for an immediate temporary
injunction that would have stopped the city from removing the speed
bumps.

Cardin said city crews removed the speed cushions on
Wednesday.

"They came out about an hour after our hearing yesterday," she
said. "They were out here in the rain as soon as the judge made his
decision."

Cardin said she has not decided whether she will amend her
existing complaint against the city, file a new complaint or simply
give up.

"I am waiting for a copy of the full engineering report," she
said.

In her seven-page civil complaint, Cardin stated that the city's
own data suggests that the speed cushions slowed traffic on Valley
Road and thus, by removing the rubber device, the city was in
effect making the neighborhood less safe.

Cardin said she believes the city removed the cushions at the
behest of someone at City Hall.

"This is an election year, and, basically, it was politics,"
Cardin said.

Oceanside City Manager Steve Jepsen said Thursday that he is
unaware of any political motivation behind removing the
cushion.

"If there is something political going on, I don't know what it
is," Jepsen said.

He said the accident data on Valley Road does not support
installation of any kind of speed bump, stop sign or other device
designed to slow traffic.

"Probably in retrospect they shouldn't have been installed in
the first place," Jepsen said.

Peter Weiss, director of the Oceanside Public Works Department,
agreed with Jepsen that there is no information to suggest that the
neighborhood has experienced a large number of motor vehicle
accidents.

"We have no accident history," Weiss said.

He added that while some cars may be driving faster than the
posted 25 mph speed limit, he does not believe that Valley Road has
a speeding problem.

Said Weiss: "Are there vehicles going faster than the posted
limit? Yes. Are they speeding excessively? No, I don't think
so."

Cardin said there have been three accidents on her street in the
last 20 years and that some vehicles have been clocked on radar
traveling up to 50 mph on Valley Road. She said the fact that the
city conducted its own traffic study before installing the speed
cushions proves that the road has a dangerous speeding problem.

"They did their research first," Cardin said. "They didn't come
out just because the neighborhood said 'we want this.' "